how sweet it is.

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=400767020

Is Kentucky up to the challenge?

How Sweet is Revenge?

 The Whites is a new book by Richard Price about five New York City cops who each have a "white": a perpetrator who got away with committing a horrific crime.

The officers have been friends for twenty years.  All but one are retired yet all still are focussed on their individual whites. Each wants nothing more than to catch the killer and make him pay. In addition to the group of five, another policeman is featured in the novel.  This character's brother was murdered when he was a teen and the cop seethes with a desire to punish the person who caused his sib's death.

I read an interview with Price a few weeks ago.  He said he intended this book to be different from his others and be more like what is called a police procedural. And for at least this one reason Price uses the name Harry Brandt as nom de plume for The Whites.

"Brandt's" book is not quite a police procedural and more like a cross between a procedural and a typical Price complex detective/mystery with a message. Price is the author of Clockers which is brilliant and almost as good, Samaritan. He also wrote the screenplay for an excellent movie, Sea of Love, that starred Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin.   Price may have wanted to try his hand at writing a police procedural, but my guess is that as he got going, his inclination towards writing something more substantive took over.

Price/Brandt writes like the New Yorker he is.  if you don't like cop parlance or New York slang this might not be for you.  But it is a good book and the questions it raises hang around a bit.

• Can you purge your demons by exacting revenge?
• Are illegal behaviors always unethical?
• Should a cop turn in another cop who breaks the law in an attempt to avenge an egregious act?
• Is revenge a sweet purgative or a disabling illusion?

If these questions intrigue you and you like to read about New York City and grisly crime, you will enjoy The Whites.

Interesting aspect of The Whites is that the main characters are racially diverse, one of the five buddies is a woman, and one of the white cops has been married twice both times to women of color--and these facts are all irrelevant to the story.  Issues of racial and gender discrimination in police forces regularly surface in contemporary headlines, so it is refreshingly odd that Billy's integrated marriage is not referred to by any of his contemporaries and seems to be a non issue, and women have roles on the force in this novel that are not significantly different from the men.

Grass

Yesterday, for the first time since January, I spotted some grass in a corner of the front yard as I drove to work. Not much, but some.  When I got home later that night, nearly half of the snow was off of our roof.   Now, one can walk from the car to the side door without looking like a tightrope dancer as there is some asphalt beyond what I shoveled away throughout February.

Spring.

Well, not quite. It was just above freezing today but still that is toasty.  Florida looms as an enticing locale after this stretch.  I typically like the seasons, but winter and the commute due to so many in Boston not trusting public transportation did me in.

Besides the weather changing some-at least for the time being--I found myself feeling elated on Monday night for reasons that only a sports fan can understand.  Northeastern, my university, earned an invitation to the tournament by defeating William and Mary.  Manhattan College and Wofford--two schools that I have familiarity with, also prevailed to be guaranteed a ticket to the dance. Finally, my alma mater is still alive and will go dancing if it can defeat Stony Brook on Sunday.

Strange, when you take a step back, to think about what can make one elated.  My day was highlighted on Wednesday when I spotted some grass on a lawn and could walk to the food mall at the university without a coat on.  And on Tuesday there was some spring to my step because teams that I root for are advancing in March Madness.

It does not happen a lot, but I was interviewed today because of March Madness. A fellow from a news agency asked me a number of questions about why people get so caught up in the tournament and can be glued to the television set for hours on end. (Today, a Thursday, there are over a dozen basketball games on. Next Thursday when the madness will be at its height, there will be sixteen games on the tube).

The short answer to the interviewer's question is this. People are enthusiastic about March Madness because sport can nourish the heart.

Yahrzeit

It's a year now, dad.

It's been a brutal winter here. Just awful.  Four serious snow storms. Single digit temperatures have been the norm. Twice I had to call AAA to jump my car to get to work.

The last time I was in Florida the forecasters were predicting 40 degrees for the area and issuing wind chill alerts.  Today we are finally going to crack 40 degrees here in Boston and I think people are going to barbecue.

The Patriots won the super bowl. It was terrific.  An undrafted rookie made an interception at the goal line at the last minute.  Thrilling. Tom Brady--now no kid pushing 38--started jumping up and down like a happy child.  I guess, when you peel away the crud that accrues, we all have the potential for jumping up and down like a happy child.

Sam's kid will be having his bar mitzvah later this month, and Hillel's daughter will be married in April.  Your great grand kids are so gorgeous.

Bobby and I are doing okay.  I need a hip so look a bit like Walter Brennan in the real McCoys when I move around.  Biggest pain is in my head.  Once I get it done supposedly I will be able to play tennis again.  Otherwise, fine. Had my annual checkup and I am good to go.  Bobby's doing great. Saw him a few weeks back when I was snowed in, in New York.  Stayed at his house and we shmoozed and generally hung out.

People say you are in a better place when the subject comes up.  Don't think so. This is the place as far as I am concerned.  Send me a postcard and let me know if I am wrong.  (A little bit of your type of humor).

I hear regularly how you touched so many lives.  No surprise that. You certainly touched mine.  I miss you.

It is time.

It is time.

If you share living space with someone who is not a college basketball fan, and you are--it might be an opportunity for someone to take an extended vacation.

March, beginning today, will be a buffet of basketball that will fill up even the most serious fan.  The conference tournaments begin in earnest now. Tomorrow, one so inclined will be able to watch more than a dozen games without doing a whole lot except using the remote control

And the upsets have begun.  In the Big South the number one seed Charleston Southern coming into the game at 19-11 succumbed to Longwood who came to the tournament as a 9 seed at 11-22.  Charleston Southern is gone goodbye. They have no chance as in zero, of being invited to the Big Dance.

The tournaments that begin this weekend are for conference champions who can only get a ticket to the dance if they win.  Nobody from the Big South gets invited unless they win the tournament. The same is true for the America East and the CAA and probably the MAAC all conferences that will be playing this weekend.  My alma mater Albany State (now called UAlbany) is a one seed and finished 15-1 in the America East.  Lose on Sunday to New Hampshire and it's sayonnara.

(A sad day that would be for the the descendants of the august crew pictured below--my freshman Albany State basketball team circa 1967.  I showed this photo to two colleagues and neither one--who work with me daily--could pick me out).

My current university, Northeastern,  begins a quest to go to the dance tomorrow night playing in Baltimore against the University of Delaware. Lose its game then, or the next night, or on Monday and the players can go back to being full time students.

The MAAC is another conference with several strong teams: Iona, Monmouth, Manhattan, and Canisius.  Iona dominated during the regular season.  If it loses once in the next four days they are done.  And I think they will. I do not see Iona prevailing in the MAAC.

There are no fewer than 13 conferences playing tournaments this weekend and 18 more beginning tournaments next week.  Of the 13 playing tournaments now, only one conference--the Missouri Valley--is likely to obtain Big Dance invitations for more than one team.  Of the 18 starting next week 7 are almost guaranteed to get only one invite. This means that 19 tournaments will be played in the next two weeks at a frenzied level because only the winner gets to go to the NCAA tournament.

I may attend a few games this weekend. The atmosphere is so charged.  I will never forget a George Mason--VCU game a few years back.  The energy in the place was beyond what could be expected. Some of the Albany-Vermont finals in the America East have been similarly wild.

Some overall predictions:  Kentucky, Virginia, and Wisconsin will be three of the four teams in the final four.  Gonzaga will disappear sooner than later.   If Duke gets to the final four, it might be able to beat Kentucky.

That is all for now.  I have to make sure my remote is working.

Dancing Contest

Happy Purim for those who celebrate the holiday.

It's March of 1974 or 75 or 1976.  I am in the campus center at the University of Buffalo not doing much of anything.

Norton Hall, at the time, had all-purpose rooms on either end of the rectangular building. In the basement there was a rathskeller that smelled, always it seemed to me, like a fraternity house after a beer party.  Upstairs where the all purpose rooms were, is where lectures and movies might be seen or organizations might reserve space for some kind of function.

In March of 74 or 75 or 76 I walk past one of the all-purpose rooms and see a sign for a Purim party.

Purim is one of those Jewish holidays that plays second fiddle to others simply because of when it takes place in the calendar. It is as significant as Chanukah but because Chanukah occurs around Christmas time, Chanukah is more well known.  Purim, like Chanukah, has a common Jewish holiday theme.  Some no-good-nik (in this case, Haman) tries to eradicate the Jews and despite bad odds, the genocide is thwarted led by a hero (in this case Mordecai).  Consequently a holiday celebrates overcoming hate and Jewish resilience.

Purim calls for a different sort of celebration than Chanukkah or Passover. During Purim, you are supposed to get drunk.   In the talmud it reads something like this:  one is to drink to the point of not knowing the difference between "cursed is Haman" and "blessed is Mordechai."   

So, it is 74 or 75 or 76 and I see the sign for a Purim party.  I am doing nothing, had forgotten it was Purim, and figure to show support for the tribe I should pay my entry fee and walk into the all purpose room for the party.  That I do.

It is quite a sight.  The organization that has sponsored the party is comprised of very religious folks.  There is a line of chairs down the middle separating the men from the women.  And on either side of the chairs--especially the male side, people are dancing wildly.

It appears to me that the men have taken the talmudic requirement quite literally.

After a while of chaotic "dancing", one of the celebrants gets up on a stage, grabs a microphone and announces to the smashed gathering that now, now they are going to have a "dentzing" contest.  He jumps down from the stage and resumes maniacally dancing. There is no contest. Just a bunch of guys swinging themselves around like mad.

This is not for me.  I leave the Purim party and the dentzing contest.

But I am glad I went.  Purim is a festive holiday, and you don't need to knock them back in order to enjoy it.

Besides a sense of having persevered and survived despite the odds, it gives us sweet cakes, the expression--a big megillah--and in some locales an excuse for a fun masquerade party.  

Happy Purim.

Cats and Dogs

The undefeated season of the Kentucky Wildcats will end tonight.  The Georgia Bulldogs will be victorious.

Why?

No good reason.  The Wildcats are so deep that their second team could probably defeat Georgia.  In the SEC tournament should the two collide in Nashville, Kentucky will prevail by 25.

But tonight in Athens with Kentucky having butchered their last five opponents, the Wildcats are due for a letdown.  Somewhere deep in their heads they know that if they are going to lose a game this year, this is the time to do it.  You don't want to lose in the SEC tournament and maybe relinquish an almost guaranteed one seed in the Big Dance.  You sure don't want to lose in the Big Dance where it is one and done.

So, this is the time to lose.

And for Georgia. They will be playing out of their skulls on senior night against an undefeated foe and annual rival.  Their season will be a successful one if they are the team to bring down Kentucky.

The spread is 10.  Georgia lost by eleven at Kentucky a few weeks ago.   The points are enticing, and likely a good bet but my sense is that if Georgia gets within ten they will win outright so I would take them on the money line.

I am not a Calipari hater. Actually, I have followed him ever since he won at UMass and, ironically, almost beat another powerful Kentucky team in the mid 90s.  Except for his brief stint as a pro coach, Calipari has won everywhere he has gone.  Yet, I think he knows it might be in his best interests to lose this game--not to tank--but that it would not be such a pogrom if the Dogs prevail.

Dogs over Cats tonight.